wcstombs

WCSTOMBS(3)		  Linux Programmer’s Manual		  WCSTOMBS(3)



NAME
       wcstombs - convert a wide character string to a multibyte string

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdlib.h>

       size_t wcstombs(char *dest, const wchar_t *src, size_t n);

DESCRIPTION
       If  dest	 is  not  a  NULL pointer, the wcstombs function converts the
       wide-character string src to a multibyte string starting at  dest.  At
       most n bytes are written to dest. The conversion starts in the initial
       state. The conversion can stop for three reasons:

       1. A wide character has been encountered that can not  be  represented
       as  a  multibyte	 sequence  (according to the current locale). In this
       case (size_t)(-1) is returned.

       2. The length limit forces a stop. In this case the  number  of	bytes
       written	to  dest  is  returned,	 but the shift state at this point is
       lost.

       3. The wide-character string has been completely converted,  including
       the terminating L’\0’. In this case the conversion ends in the initial
       state.  The number of bytes written to dest, excluding the terminating
       ’\0’ byte, is returned.

       The  programmer must ensure that there is room for at least n bytes at
       dest.

       If dest is NULL, n is ignored, and the conversion proceeds  as  above,
       except  that  the  converted  bytes are not written out to memory, and
       that no length limit exists.

       In order to avoid the case 2 above, the programmer should make sure  n
       is greater or equal to wcstombs(NULL,src,0)+1.

RETURN VALUE
       The  wcstombs  function	returns	 the number of bytes that make up the
       converted part of multibyte sequence, not  including  the  terminating
       null  byte.   If	 a  wide character was encountered which could not be
       converted, (size_t)(-1) is returned.

CONFORMING TO
       ISO/ANSI C, UNIX98

SEE ALSO
       wcsrtombs(3)

NOTES
       The behaviour of wcstombs depends on the LC_CTYPE category of the cur-
       rent locale.

       The  function  wcsrtombs	 provides a thread safe interface to the same
       functionality.



GNU				  1999-07-25			  WCSTOMBS(3)